Vacation.com

Our 14th annual Conference is cruising along the Caribbean with nearly 1,300 Vcom agents and suppliers onboard. For those of you who have had the privilege of attending Conference in the past, you understand the high level of camaraderie, education, elucidation and fun that’s going on right now.

But for those of you who have not attended yet, you may be wondering what Conference is like. Let’s walk through today’s schedule with Veronica Veecom, an agent from Profitville, PA.

An eager go-getter, Veronica wakes up early to hit the gym before grabbing a healthy breakfast at the Windjammer Café. She then grabs 12-ounces of black gold from Starbucks and heads to the 8:45am General Session in the Opal Theater, where she enjoys presentations from Amadeus, Funjet, Viking River Cruises, GOGO Vacations and always-entertaining American Express.

Next it’s time for learning, and Veronica has to choose between “Selling to Different Generations,” “How’s Your Customer Service?” “Quality of your Data” and “Vacation.com Tools for Selling Luxury.” Others may skip class and spend a truant hour zip-lining over the Boardwalk, but not Veronica. She’s there with her agency’s best interests in mind, so she opts for the luxury tools seminars and learns a great deal about Hotel Elite.

At 11:45, she passes on the Preferred Supplier seminars from Starwood, MLT, Tauck and Oceania, only because she spoke candidly with them all during Monday’s Trade Show. Instead she grabs a veggie burger from Johnny Rockets and heads to the Experience Room to learn more about In-Sites, GoSiteSee, AirPRO and Agent Universe.

Her afternoon is filled with more Preferred Supplier training sessions, where she can choose to learn advanced sales strategies from the likes of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Classic Vacations, Crystal Cruises, WestJet Vacations and Kensington Tours.

She visits Starbucks again before the next set of classes, where she has the tough choice between “How to Avoid Group Disasters,” “Improving Your Google Rankings, “Old Rules for New Success in Social Media” and “Fly with AirPRO.” She chooses the class on Google Rankings and is amazed at how clearly the instructor instructs.

With her head swimming with new ideas and opportunities, Veronica freshens up in her spacious stateroom, throws on a bright floral-print dress and a pair of sling-backs and meets up with some fellow Vcommers she met earlier in the Experience Room for dinner. The wild mushroom ravioli she orders at 150 Central Park is simply to die for.

With the night still young, Veronica and her new best friends venture over to Studio B for a Vcom-exclusive showing of the comedy improv “Throw Me a Line!” The laughter energizes her so much, she decides to take in a late show of the Broadway hit musical Hairspray before finally calling a day—a long, enlightening, entertaining and thoroughly productive day.